DURHAM — One thing that Jeremy Cash had to remember when he made his Duke debut last weekend was to temper his excitement.

Yeah, right.

So he went out and made Duke’s first tackle of the season.

“I was a little anxious,” Cash said. “Yet at the same time, you can’t go out there and be overzealous.”

Cash, a 20-year-old sophomore safety, is a transfer from Ohio State. He sat out the 2012 season, so he hadn’t played in about two years when he made that initial stop against North Carolina Central on Saturday.

“It has been a long time,” Cash said. “I went out and tried to play my hardest. I was just happy to be out there and help do anything to win the game. It felt pretty good to be back out there.”

Cash, who described his role as a hybrid between safety and linebacker, finished with six tackles — tops among Duke’s defensive backs.

“He had fun,” Duke coach David Cutcliffe said. “He was chomping at the bit. No question, he made a lot of plays.”

It had been a long time for Cash, who opted to leave the Ohio State program after playing in five games for the Buckeyes under former coach Jim Tressel. The coaching change prompted his decision.

Then the player out of Plantation, Fla., chose Duke. Last year on the scout team, he went against the first-string offense.

“Sitting out a year kind of hurt him a little bit,” said Ross Cockrell, a senior cornerback for Duke. “He just loves football and it’s very clear to see that.”

Cash sought an NCAA appeal so he could play in 2012, but that was denied last August. Because he arrived at Duke for the 2012 spring semester, he was available to play in last year’s Belk Bowl, but that one game would have cost him a year of eligibility so he opted to wait until this year.

“It was mentally hard,” Cash said. “I appreciated the fact (at the spring game) that the next time I play will be for real.”

After the opener, Cash deflected attention from his personal return to the field.